Team Building

Cheng-Kai Kao, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
University of Chicago Medical Center
Scenario
• One week into your new job, you now know your team a
little bit better. Your team consists of several programmers
and data analysts. A few folks are new to the team, like
you, and others have been with the company for some
time.

• How can you develop a strong and effective team? Where

do you start?

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What Makes A Team
Definition of a Team

• “A group of people committed to a common purpose and working

interdependently to produce exceptional and synergistic results for which they
hold themselves mutually accountable.” – from the book “A Guide to
Continuous Improvement Transformation.”

– Building and developing the right team is one of the factors critical to the
success of any project.

– Groups and teams both have their own importance and social relevance
within enterprises. In a group, people may work independently; taking
responsibility for assigned tasks. But real synergy is accomplished when
people work interdependently as a team.

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Reasons Why We Need a Team
• Require multiple skillsets and experiences
• Maximize people’s expertise on a long-term basis
• Bring in new ideas and perspectives
• Accelerate the timeline
• Ease the pressure on each individual
• Teamwork builds morale and motivates unity in the workplace
• Account for all aspects of potentials and avoid costly surprises down the road
• Provide great learning opportunities

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Team Development
Tuckman’s Group Development Model

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Tuckman’s Group Development Model
1. Forming: the process of putting the structure of the team together. Team members feel
ambiguous and conflict is avoided at all costs due to the need to be accepted into the
group. Team members typically look to a group leader for direction and guidance.
– To advance from this stage to the next stage, each member must relinquish the
comfort zone of non-threatening topics and risk the possibility of conflict.

2. Storming: occur as the process of organizing tasks and processes surface interpersonal
conflicts. Leadership, power, and structural issues dominate this stage.
– In order to progress to the next stage, group members must move from a "testing
and proving" mentality to a problem-solving mentality. The most important trait in
helping teams move to the next stage is the ability of team members to listen to
their team mates - what are they trying to say?

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Tuckman’s Group Development Model

3. Norming: team members are creating new ways of doing and being together. As the
group develops cohesion, leadership changes from ‘one’ teammate in charge to shared
leadership. Team members learn they have to trust one another for shared leadership to
be effective.
– The major task function of stage 3 is the data flow between group members: They
share feelings and ideas, solicit and give feedback to one another, and explore
actions related to the task. Creativity is high. Collaboration emerges during this
stage when team work ethic and shared leadership is understood.

– Some drawback of the norming stage is that members may begin to fear the
inevitable future breakup of the team; they may resist change of any sort.

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Tuckman’s Group Development Model
4. Performing: True interdependence is the norm of this stage of group development. The
team is flexible as individuals adapt to meet the needs of other team members. This is a
highly productive stage both personally and professionally.
– Building effective relationships: Trust, Understanding, Acceptance, Respect,
Courtesy, and Accountability
– The Performing stage is not reached by all groups. In this stage, people can work
independently, in subgroups, or as a total unit with equal competencies.

5. Adjourning: In this stage typically team members are ready to leave, causing significant
change to the team structure, membership, or purpose of the team. They experience
change and transition. While the group continues to perform productively they also need
time to manage their feelings of termination and transition.
– The final stage, adjourning, involves the termination of task behaviors and
disengagement from relationships.
– A planned conclusion usually includes recognition for participation and achievement
and an opportunity for members to say personal goodbyes.

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Building a High-Performing Team

• How do you define an effective or high-performing team?

• What does it look / feel like?

• What does a highly productive meeting feels like?

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Steps to Building an Effective Team
• Communication
– Involve leaders in corporate communication.
– Be clear when communicating.
– Encourage listening and brainstorming.

• Set an Example
– Consider each employee's ideas as valuable.
– Be aware of employees' unspoken feelings.
– Act as a harmonizing influence.

• Align the Goals

– Establish team values and goals and evaluate team performance.
– Encourage trust and cooperation among people on your team.

• Define and Delegate Role and Responsibilities

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Week 2 Required Reading
Class Discussion

1. What do you learn from the example of the

communication pattern in the German Bank?
Class Discussion

2. “The most valuable form of communication is

face-to-face. E-mail and texting are the least
valuable.”

• Do you agree?

• Would the popularity of the remote work

environment change your perspective?
Team Charter

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SMART Objective: Articulate Team Goals
• Since it is very easy for team members to assume that a particular task was
“someone else’s responsibility,” all tasks should be clearly laid out for all
members.
• SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related)

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Class Discussion
• What is your take on team building activities or events? Any examples
from your experience?
• Do you think they help build a stronger team? How does it change the
team dynamics?

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Arguments
Supporting Not Supporting
• Work on Team Communication • The activities do not help align
the individual goals and drive
• Bond with Team Leaders
collaboration
• Give Team Members a Break
• The temporary emotional bonds
• Generate Better Ideas do not hold up under day-to-day
pressure
• Keep People Up-to-Date
• Sometimes overspending
• Reward the Staff money
• Get to Know Team Members (in
a Different Context)

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Let’s Take a 20-min Break (Resume at 8:10pm)

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Leadership Experience (?)

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Psychological Safety in Teams
• Google “Project Aristotle” - the quest to ‘build the perfect team’.
Analysis of data and interviews from over 180 teams across the
company revealed that high-performing teams have one thing in
common: psychological safety.

• Psychological Safety: “a belief that one will not be punished or

humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or
mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”
- Amy Edmondson
Why is this important in teams?

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The Importance of Psychological Safety
• Enhances innovation and creative thinking through risk taking
• Increases solution-finding
• Reduces stress and burnout in the workplace
• Builds resilience as a team
• Fosters an inclusive team culture
• Enhances overall engagement
• Boosts team performance
• Reduces team turnover

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Creating Psychological Safety

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Conflict Management
What is Team Conflict?

• Team Conflict is an undesirable, interpersonal problem that

occurs between two or more members of the same project team,
and affects results of teamwork, so the team does not perform at
an optimum level.

• If not resolved properly, destructive conflicts lead to negative

consequences and performance deterioration.

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Importance of Conflict Management

• Although conflicts can be seen as negative factors, they can also help teams to
reach better results if we manage them correctly.

• Conflict management can be the way to reach a shared goal and an important
process that can help teams achieve a better performance.

• Team conflicts will be more common when the project task complexity
increases.

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Sources of Team Conflict
• Perceptions: different interpretations of the exact same situation or event
without being able to reach a mutual understanding. Can be a source of team
disagreements.
• Values: people have different values and principles in life, which can lead
them to take opposite positions when dealing with a particular issue.
• Goals: People may want to achieve something, but they might have different
reasons for doing so, which can trigger disagreements between members
about the best way or timeline to accomplish this task.
• Roles and Responsibilities: happens when right people are not assigned to
right responsibilities and roles
• Personality Clashes: caused by differences in personality among team
members.

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Results of Team Conflicts

• Constructive Team Conflicts: such conflicts arise when team members grow
personally and increase their qualification. Constructive team conflicts result in
a solution to a problem and create cohesiveness between team members.

• Destructive Team Conflicts: arise when the team problem solving process
fails so no solution is generated and the problem still exists. Destructive
conflicts between team members defocus group effort and divert energy away
from prioritized activities. Such conflicts demoralize the team and make it
polarized.

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Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

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 Breakout Discussion and Reporting Out

• One day you hear about conflict between 2 members of your team- one
is a recent outside hire, while the other has been with the company for
5 years. They have disagreement about the approach to accelerate the
work in order to meet the new timeline demanded by your client.
• After meeting with them 1:1, you hear that the new hire feels they aren't
being taken serious because they are new. They feel cut off when
sharing their suggestions despite their experience prior to joining the
company. The more veteran employee shares they are just trying to
show the new hire "how to get things done" and all the context of the
work.
• Discuss as a group and select one member to report out to the class:
How do you address the conflict?

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Steps to Resolve Conflicts
The most effective way to resolve conflicts is through collaboration between
conflicting parties.
1. Talk with the team members in a safe and private place
2. Focus on behavior and events, not on personalities.
▪ For example, say “When this happens …” instead of “When you do …”
▪ Describe a specific instance or event instead of generalizing.
▪ Clarify what is the source of conflict

3. Listen carefully and let everyone have their say

▪ Listen to what the person is saying instead of getting ready to react. Avoid
interruption
▪ After the person finishes speaking, rephrase what was said to make sure you
understand it. Ask questions to clarify your understanding.

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Steps to Resolve Conflicts
4. Identify points of agreement and disagreement.
▪ Ask the person if he or she agrees with your assessment.
▪ Modify your assessment until all of you agree on the areas of conflict.

5. Prioritize the areas of conflict.

▪ Discuss which areas of conflict are most important to resolve.

6. Develop a plan to work on each conflict and meet the common goal.
▪ Jointly agree on the best solution and determine the responsibilities each party has in the
resolution

7. Follow through on your plan.

▪ Maintain a collaborative, “let’s-work-out-a-solution” attitude.

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Steps to Resolve Conflicts

8. Build on your success.

▪ Look for opportunities to point out progress and compliment when you make
progress, even if it’s just a small step.
▪ Your hard work will pay off when discussions eventually give way to ongoing,
friendly communication.
▪ Decide preventative strategies for the future

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Case Study Presentation
• This assignment will allow you to work in groups on a defined case study that
addresses one or more of the modules we will explore in this course. At the
start of the quarter, you will be assigned to a group that will read, analyze and
develop a brief presentation on a major case study.

• You will give an in-class presentation and will also guide the subsequent
discussion as we probe into the particulars of the case and the lessons it has
for us.

• For those not presenting on a given week, you are expected to thoroughly read
the case and come prepared to ask questions and offer observations about
how it illustrates the problems of leadership.

• Time: 45mins

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Week 3 Case Study for Group 1
Week 3 (In Person Class)
• Guest Speaker
James S. Williams, Jr., VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UCM

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Questions and Comments

Cheng-Kai Kao, MD

Email: ckkao@bsd.uchicago.edu
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ckkao